Slashdot Mirror
China's Politburo Behind Google Cyber-Attack?
theodp writes "While Wikileaks itself is under a DoS attack, details about the US State Department cables obtained by WikiLeaks are starting to come out via the mainstream media. Among the most newsworthy, reports Techcrunch's Erick Schonfeld, is one set which deals with the massive computer attack on Google and other companies which was first revealed last January. According to the NY Times, some of the new leaked cables point directly at China's Politburo for instigating the original attacks, which should shed some more light on why the White House and State Department backed Google so vociferously at the time. Developing, as Drudge likes to say."
Naa, the US prefers the personal touch of hired goons. Either that or redirects to seizeddomains.com.
For such an embarrassment these leaks do go some way to promoting the US world view, or is that just editing from the media outlets. Examples such as many middle eastern counties (Saudi, Jordan and Egypt etc) urging US to bomb Iran, as well as the links below
Iraq document leaks show US forces found WMD after invasion - http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/10/wikileaks-show-wmd-hunt-continued-in-iraq-with-surprising-results/
Wikileaked documents normalise Iraq civilian death toll at 'massive' 66,000
is that 3 ddos attacks going at once?
at this rate the whole idea of a cyberwar is much less idiotic?
warning pointless sig
Everyone seems to dislike Assange's approach to public relations. But then again, how many people know/knew Anna Politkovskaya? Assange seems to be quite the media's darling and whatever, but that might be essential for his own safety.
all it takes is the b-tard kid of one G-man and suddenly they know how to ddos. it's not rocket science (and they are at least a little bit competent at that).
and considering the story's only just broken, innuendo is all anybody has. and usual suspects. and occam's razor.
i would be very surprised if the US didn't have some part in the ddos, though there are plenty of other governments that would gladly join in. ...or wikileaks hasn't got as robust a site as we all thought, and it's just been slashdotted by geeks and journalists the world over.
Interesting post, but hobbled by a lack of accounting for Syria.
I first heard rumor not about a Syrian program in 1994, it was emphasized by the CIA (2003), and the Israelis (2007).
The reason you aren't hearing about it is because Damascus is not the oldest continually occupied city on earth by chance. Furthermore, their Jordanian counterparts have a penchant for reaffirming covenants with the U.S. & Israel, performing economic due-diligence, sending their children to American Universities (even their presidents!!), and generally being sane and available to Western actors.
Any belief that Syria and Jordan aren't at least ready to go back-to-back if the Middle East disintegrates is unrealistic.
1. No country is above this. Most of Slashdot readers have even dabbled in this as some point or another.
2. No they don't. And they're right. It's only a matter of time before the US government figures out a way to crush wikileaks in a way that makes no one else ever try it again.
3. Plenty 12 year olds have the capability of launching a DDoS attack. The US wouldn't be tipping any hand. And, just because they are under a DDoS attack doesn't mean that's all that's going on. This may very well be a symptom or a diversion of something else entirely.
Yes, wikileaks is DDoSing their own site for attention. On the day they probobly got more hits than any other site on the internet they feel the need to DDoS themselves so no one can read what their publishing, so they can get more attention... even though they already have every News organization and Political party on earth staring directly at them. You're brilliant.
Is it any wonder Kuwait and Saudi Arabia are afraid? They are well aware that once their natural resources out, they will be abandoned by the US. And when they fall away from US' grace, they will most likely face devastation. And for a reason, and they know it. There's even a Saudi saying, 'My grandfather rode a camel, my father rode a camel, I drive a Mercedes, my son drives a Land Rover, his son will drive a Land Rover, but his son will ride a camel', uttered by a Sheikh.
Was "China" (ie somebody in China) behind the attack on Google? Perhaps; all governments at some level do this kind of things.
But I don't think this is anything like the main story to extract from this leak; which is much more about what American government and diplomats think, privately, about everybody else. Very revealing stuff, I think, which confirms what we all have had our suspicions about.
In their defence I'll say that what you think in private is often much less refined than what you end up saying or doing, so perhaps we shouldn't judge them too harshly.